Roland Garros: Felix Auger-Aliassime confirmed as new No 4 in Live ATP Rankings as he refutes Toni Nadal clay claims
Felix Auger-Aliassime has broken new ground in the ATP Rankings as his latest win at the French Open has helped him to secure a new career high.
The Canadian started the clay-court Grand Slam at No 6 in the rankings, but he moved up two places in the Live Rankings at the start of the tournament as he only dropped 10 points following a first-round exit 12 months ago while Novak Djokovic (No 3) and Ben Shelton (No 4) had more points to defend.
With both exiting Roland Garros early, it cleared Auger-Aliassime’s path to remain at No 4 although there were a few players behind him left in the draw who could still overtake him.
However, his 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 victory over Alejandro Tabilo helped him to move to 4,440 points in the Live Rankings and out of reach of Flavio Cobolli, whom he will face in the quarter-final.
No 11 Cobolli sits on 2,640 points after his win over Zachery Svajda and even if he goes on to win the French Open, he will still come up short as he can only reach a maximum of 4,240.
Can He Overtake Alexander Zverev?
Auger-Aliassime is currently 1,265 points behind third-placed Alexander Zverev, who has also reached the quarter-final at Roland Garros.
There is only one way the Canadian can move up to third place and that is a title coupled with a Zverev loss in the last four against Rafael Jodar.
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But for now Auger-Aliassime’s focus will be on Cobolli as he looks to reach the semi-final in Paris for the first time. The 25-year-old hopes he has proven to the tennis world that reports he doesn’t like clay are far off.
“I think I have repeated myself a lot in my career. I don’t know, maybe if I win the tournament, I am going to make it clear to everyone: I don’t mind the clay. I just don’t mind it.
“I’m going to tell you a story. When I was 18, my coaches thought that I should go and play in South America because I was better on clay. So I went to Rio, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo… In the summer, I skipped grass to play on clay. At 18, the schedule was to play more on clay.
“As the years progressed and my game progressed, it was natural for me to play the bigger tournaments on hard courts and play indoors at the start of the year and at the end of the year.”
Auger-Aliassime hired Toni Nadal – the great Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach – in 2021 and they worked together for three years with many believing it was aimed at improving his clay game.
He added: “But I don’t mind clay and I didn’t work with Toni to play better on clay. I just wanted to learn from someone who has been at the highest level of tennis. That was the key, not just to be better on clay.”
